Horror and Orthodoxy?
I am a writer. At least that’s what I tell myself. I write fiction that would be shelved near Stephen King in the bookstore. This fact, that I enjoy and attempt to create horror fiction, sometimes seems at greats odds with my Faith as an Orthodox Christian. How do I reconcile my love of Peter Straub’s Ghost Story and Saint Moses the Black?
In Danse Macabre Stephen King writes at length about the role of the Horror story (written or filmed) in our culture. Think about all those horror movies where the teen couple is making out in the woods. What happens to teens who make out in secluded places? They get killed by crazy, mask-wearing, axe-wielders. Horror is rooted in this kind of conservative (preserve the status quo) morality. And you know what, I happen to agree with those morals. (I have more to say on this, but my time at the public library is growing short, so I’ll come back to it–with quotes even!)
My writing buddy and I are working on a couple of projects right now. One is a collection of stories for the Juvenile Fiction market. The other is an anthology journal which would focus on Appalachian Horror and Dark Fantasy. Hopefully I’ll be looking for an agent soon!
Karl suggested I read this post. I recently wrote a short review of Stephen King’s final Dark Tower book on my blog (and I am an Orthodox Christian who has enjoyed horror novels at different times in my life). I am definitely interested in anything you have to write re. horror and Orthododoxy… and in anything that you are writing yourself! I wish you well in your writing!
Christina,
It’s good to know I’m not alone. As I said in my latest post, I’m rereading Danse Macabre and will post more on this soon. Have you read DM? How about On Writing. Both are really good and King shows a scholars knowledge of the genre while maintaining his easy going writing style.
Peace
I have reserved Insomnia, Black House, and Danse Macabre from the library. I should be getting them soon:). Thanks for the recommendations.